The Star Wars: Rebellion manual lists keyboard commands for the strategic and tactical games alongside the general mouse and window conventions of the interface. In the PDF's text layer most of the key names are missing, so this article lists the commands by function and gives a key only where the text states it.

Mouse and windows

The interface follows Windows 95 conventions. A single click selects, a double-click opens the window tied to an item, and a right-click opens that item's menu. Most game elements have right-click menus. Tool tips appear when the mouse rests on a control, and drag-and-drop moves items such as trooper regiments.

Windows have a title bar for moving them, a Sector button, tabs, a Close button and a Minimize button; a minimized window is restored from its place on the Window Reference Bar. Sector windows cannot be moved or minimized, and only two can be open at once, while any number of System windows may be open.

Some windows are modeless and can stay open while the player does other things. Others are modal and must be dismissed first. The manual lists Status, Finder, Battle Summary, Encyclopedia and Message windows as modal, and says a Close button usually marks them.

Strategic game

The manual's Command Center commands cover:

• the Game Options screen, the planetary system finder, the fleet and ship finder, the troop finder, the Personnel Finder, the message window and the Galactic Encyclopedia (the planetary system finder is shown with F2);
• scrolling lists and cycling through open windows or through message and Encyclopedia entries;
• accepting the current selection (the same as clicking OK) and cancelling or closing a window, which also skips animation scenes and the agent introduction;
• closing all open windows (shown as Alt+W);
• increasing and decreasing game speed with keys on the numeric keypad, and pausing the game;
• composing a chat message in head-to-head play;
• returning to the index inside the message and Encyclopedia windows (stated as Alt+I);
• opening the Mission window for the selected characters and the Status window for whatever is selected.

The message droid's Display Message Index can also be opened with F6.

Agent commands direct the agent droid to build ships at the nearest available shipyard, troops at the nearest available training facility, or facilities at the nearest available construction yard, open the Galaxy Overview, toggle Manage Garrisons, toggle Manage Production, toggle Translate Counterpart, toggle Agent Advice, and open Game Objectives.

Galactic Information Display commands switch the Galactic Information Display to popular support, uprisings, idle fleets, fleets en route, idle personnel, active personnel, idle shipyards, idle training facilities or idle construction yards.

Tactical game

The tactical game uses different key meanings. The manual groups them as admiral window commands and camera commands.

• Admiral window: select task force 1 to 8, order an attack on the closest target matching the selected unit, cycle through the ships of one task force, make the camera follow task force 1 to 8, and follow the Red, Blue, Green or Gold fighter group (the Blue and Green groups use F10 and F11).
• Camera (numeric keypad): rotate left or right, tilt up or down, zoom in or out, center on the selected target, memorize the camera position and return to it.

See Tactical game for the battles these commands control.